Stolen exams, elaborate schemes: the truth about cutthroat culture
As an incoming freshman preparing to take any college courses for the first time, it is easy to get nervous. This feeling is only multiplied about a thousand times for those freshmen entering their first year at Hopkins. This is due to the many rumors circulating throughout college guides about the level of competitiveness amongst students at Hopkins. Most consider competition at Hopkins to be "cutthroat."
Well, never fear, freshmen, for this is only partially true. And as many of us may know, reputations may hold some truth, but the majority of the time they are untrue (such as those started out of jealousy), outdated (such as those about your old job at Hooters, you know, before you became a BME at Hopkins), or based off of minority cases rather than general statistics (such as that one time you flashed some guy while dancing on the pole at Pike). Overall, reputations tend to be skewed, and sometimes just plain fictitious. The truth? To use the phrase "cutthroat" to describe Hopkins is to be dreadfully archaic. I personally know not a single person at JHU who would at all impair another's chances at excelling at school. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Not a day in any of the dorms goes by without passing a few people studying for a tough exam together at the table in the lounge, helping to edit a fellow classmate's essay in English or various other languages, or witnessing some other act of one student helping out another.
While we've all heard stories about people of past generations ruining each other's projects to get ahead and sway the curve, that's hardly the case anymore. Most students at Hopkins will stay up late into the night trying to help a friend in their class understand a concept that they may have grasped instantly in class, even if it does make them tired and compromise their own work the next day. Most of the competition happens in high school, when students compete for admission to Hopkins. Once admitted, most students develop a higher level of camaraderie that follows them throughout life.
Well, never fear, freshmen, for this is only partially true. And as many of us may know, reputations may hold some truth, but the majority of the time they are untrue (such as those started out of jealousy), outdated (such as those about your old job at Hooters, you know, before you became a BME at Hopkins), or based off of minority cases rather than general statistics (such as that one time you flashed some guy while dancing on the pole at Pike). Overall, reputations tend to be skewed, and sometimes just plain fictitious. The truth? To use the phrase "cutthroat" to describe Hopkins is to be dreadfully archaic. I personally know not a single person at JHU who would at all impair another's chances at excelling at school. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Not a day in any of the dorms goes by without passing a few people studying for a tough exam together at the table in the lounge, helping to edit a fellow classmate's essay in English or various other languages, or witnessing some other act of one student helping out another.
While we've all heard stories about people of past generations ruining each other's projects to get ahead and sway the curve, that's hardly the case anymore. Most students at Hopkins will stay up late into the night trying to help a friend in their class understand a concept that they may have grasped instantly in class, even if it does make them tired and compromise their own work the next day. Most of the competition happens in high school, when students compete for admission to Hopkins. Once admitted, most students develop a higher level of camaraderie that follows them throughout life.
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